{"id":492992,"date":"2026-01-05T01:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T01:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/492992\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T01:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T01:19:11","slug":"dallas-landmark-commission-to-review-rainbow-colored-steps-at-oak-lawn-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/492992\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Landmark Commission to review rainbow-colored steps at Oak Lawn church"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">What began as a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/faith\/2025\/10\/21\/oak-lawn-umc-paints-church-steps-rainbow-amid-governors-call-to-remove-rainbow-crosswalks\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/faith\/2025\/10\/21\/oak-lawn-umc-paints-church-steps-rainbow-amid-governors-call-to-remove-rainbow-crosswalks\/\"> symbolic act of solidarity<\/a> in the heart of Dallas\u2019 LGBTQ scene is now a test of city authority. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Dallas\u2019 Landmark Commission is set to decide Monday whether a historic Oak Lawn church can keep its rainbow-painted front steps, a move made after Gov. Greg Abbott directed cities to remove rainbow crosswalks and other painted symbols from public streets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Church leaders say the steps, on private property, were meant as an expression of faith and solidarity with the LGBTQ community, not a political statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Because the church sits within a designated historic site, certain changes to the property fall under the jurisdiction of the Landmark Commission, a City Council-appointed body. <\/p>\n<p>Political Points<\/p>\n<p class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__3beff secondaryRoman secondaryRoman-20 text-center text-gray-dark\">Get the latest politics news from North Texas and beyond.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__8MgJa flex flex-wrap text-gray-dark secondaryRoman secondaryRoman-10 text-center justify-center\">By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0<a class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__lU9-l border-b border-gray-dark hover_border-0 focus_border-0 active_border-0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/help\/terms-of-service\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__lU9-l border-b border-gray-dark hover_border-0 focus_border-0 active_border-0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/help\/privacy-policy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">The church has urged neighbors and supporters to attend and speak at the 1 p.m. hearing at Dallas City Hall, saying the steps have become a marker of welcome and belonging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">\u201cSilence is not neutral,\u201d said the Rev. Rachel Griffin-Allison, the church\u2019s senior pastor. \u201cPainting our steps in the colors of the rainbow is a visible witness to the gospel we preach, that every person is created in the image of God and worthy of safety, dignity and belonging.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">The commission\u2019s staff recommended approving the steps as a temporary art installation, saying the changes are reversible, temporary and consistent with preservation standards. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">A separate task force, however, recommended denial, citing city code provisions governing exterior color changes in historic sites<b>.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What began as a symbolic act of solidarity in the heart of Dallas\u2019 LGBTQ scene is now a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":492993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,14841,20716,11210,80,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-492992","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-city-hall","11":"tag-lgbt","12":"tag-oak-lawn","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115839864956652805","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}